A WENSLEYDALE farming partnership has been able to maintain a high stocking rate, and improve the sporting capacity and environmental diversity of their moorland, thanks to European grants and entry into a countryside stewardship agreement.

The stewardship agreement pays for the ewes to be put on to eatage in lowland Yorkshire, while a grant under the objective 5b programme, administered by the northern uplands moorland regeneration project, has seen winter housing capacity increased by a third.

With sheep off the Arkleside moors for the past two winters, there has been a significant improvement in heather, and in the diversity on adjacent white ground.

Mr David Brown and his son, Tim, of Agglethorpe Hall, Agglethorpe, near Leyburn, have housed 570 Swaledale ewes in one large shed each winter for the past 15 years.

Two years ago a lean-to was added which has capacity for an extra 200 ewes.

The £11,000 extension received 40pc grant aid from the European Union's objective 5b scheme through the northern uplands moorland regeneration project as part of an integrated management plan for the Arkleside group of moors which cover a total of almost 2,000 acres.

The project has also been integrated into the countryside stewardship scheme to achieve a combination of maximum environmental, farming and sporting benefit.

The Browns' moorland area extends to 600 of those acres, and two other farmers with other parts of the Arkleside moors also took part in the plan.

The owner of the sporting rights, Mr Martin Vallance, is actively involved, having committed to substantial investment in heather reseeding, employment of an additional gamekeeper and other grouse shooting improvements.

Countryside stewardship schemes have also been agreed for much of the moor areas, aimed at heather regeneration and enhancement of wildlife habitats while also protecting farm incomes.

Woodland planting of some gill areas is proposed, through the woodland grant scheme, to increase landscape diversity and benefit black grouse habitat.

Mr David Brown told an open day at the farm on Thursday of last week that Agglethorpe Hall itself comprised 300 rented acres of inbye and was run in combination with a hill farm of 120 acres inbye plus 600 acres of moor further up the dale.

Stocking is 100 suckler cows and 800 Swaledale ewes at the main unit with a further 400 Dalesbred ewes on the moor. While the Swaledales are mainly bred pure, with about 100 four-shear ewes bought each back end, the Dalesbreds are crossed to produce Mashams for a specific market.

The first building was put up in 1984, mainly to house the older ewes. Five years ago, following the decision of one neighbour on the hill farm to fence part of the moor and to put up a fence with the aid of a stewardship grant, the Browns and their neighbours there also decided to enter the scheme and, with help in preparing the application from North Yorkshire FWAG, were accepted.

This enabled a further fence to be put up by the Browns to split the heather and the white ground. The top ground is now limited to 90 sheep from June to August.

The sheep are also sent away from tupping to the first week of January or February, and the stewardship pays for this rented eatage in other parts of the county.

"Sending the sheep away allows us to run more ewes, and has done for some years. In addition, because they go onto dairy farms without sheep, we find great health benefits," said Mr David Brown.

"Here at home we worm them at turn-out and then shortly after - at the approved time. That stops worms getting into the pasture with all the problems of re-cycling. Then they go away to clean pasture while they are carrying their lambs and come back in tremendous condition."

In the sheds they are fed a high quality, home-made clamp silage, with ewes scanned showing twins and trebles getting an extra ounce a day of soya, which is sprinkled on top of the silage. This is gradually stepped up to 3 ounces a day, with a high glucose nut introduced a fortnight before lambing."

On scanning this year the 800 Swaledales have recorded 188pc, and the 450 Dalesbreds 141pc.

Mr Philip Hall, of the northern uplands moorland regeneration project, stressed the need for integration between farming, shooting and conservation interests, which had been achieved in the scheme.

"The moorland needs grazing, and the sheep do that; it also needs periods without sheep to recover and improve, and this is being achieved," he said.

Mr James Scott, Northallerton-based Farming and Rural Conservation Agency adviser, said that, even within two years, benefits were clearly visible both in the health and productivity of the sheep, and in the heather which was "definitely coming back."

On the white ground there was already an increase in ground nesting birds. "We do not expect, or even want wall to wall heather, we want diversity and that is being achieved," he said.

While the emphasis of the open day was on the up-side of winter housing of sheep, local vet Mr Brian Linscott emphasised the need for attention to detail in management if disease problems were to be avoided.

"It is always worth thinking 'is there something extra I can do ?' to control disease," he said. "Housing by its very nature is a more intensive management system and so they need more care. A particular issue is foot rot; if that is prevented, or attended to if it exists, its spread can be avoided.

"Using rams with good feet is something which needs more attention, just in the way dairy farmers are paying attention to bulls with good feet."

A healthy flock needed to be kept healthy, and any introduced animals must be kept isolated from the main flock, and preferably be dipped and injected to ensure their health status. "Just one sheep with scab, or any other disease, can lead to a very expensive problem," warned Mr Linscott.

Adding to the warnings, ADAS sheep specialist Kate Phillips, said farmers needed to gain more information from their feed suppliers about the contents of concentrates, and warned that there were "terrible" ingredients farmers should beware of.

It was not enough, she said, just to get a list of ingredients in feed. The quality of those feeds in terms of protein and energy levels should also be disclosed.

On housing, metabolic profiles of a sample of the flock should be taken. In addition it was vital that housed sheep got enough trough space - a minimum of 18 inches per ewe, as at Agglethorpe - so that each ewe got her fair share of the feed on offer.